Survey finds Ismail Sabri govt 'somewhat' favourable

 

A survey finds that a majority of Malaysians have at least a somewhat favourable opinion of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government.

The survey, commissioned by the US-based International Republican Institute (IRI), found that only 17 percent of respondents "approve a lot" of the current government.

However, another 45 percent "somewhat approve". Another 22 percent "somewhat disapprove", while 13 percent “disapprove a lot” and three percent were “unsure”.

The survey polled 1,207 Malaysians aged 18 and above. The IRI's survey arm said the respondents were nationally representative, and the data was post-weighted for state, gender, age, ethnicity, and urbanicity based on 2019 estimates by the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

It said the margin for error did not exceed 2.8 percentage points.

The favourable and somewhat favourable responses towards the Ismail Sabri government were above 50 percent for all age groups, as well as among both urban and rural dwellers.

Least favourable opinion

This trend continues among Malay, bumiputera, and Indian respondents.

Chinese respondents had the least favourable opinion of the Ismail Sabri government, with only seven percent strongly approving and 36 percent somewhat approving.

Ismail Sabri came to power in August last year, after Umno MPs led by party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi withdrew support from the then prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin.

This is the first time the IRI has polled respondents on the Bera MP's administration in its periodical surveys.

Declining confidence

While the opinion of Ismail Sabri is somewhat favourable, there is declining confidence in the country's direction.

Among the respondents, 64 percent believe the country is going in the right direction compared to 70 percent in October 2021.

The number of those who believe the country is headed in the wrong direction has increased from 22 percent in October 2021, to 28 percent.

On issues that they want the government to address, 34 percent believe national unity to be the top priority, followed by judicial and parliamentary independence (22 percent), discrimination and affirmative action (18 percent), electoral and political financing reform (13 percent), and party-hopping (nine percent). - Mkini